Key Assignment Edit your plan based on any instructor or collegial feedback from Week 4. Proof and finalize the plan. It should include the following information: Company synopsis: This is a snapshot
Running Head: STARBUCK’S COMMUNICATION PLAN 1
Starbuck’s Communication Plan
Name: Kelish Brown
Course: BHV315
Instructor: Paul Helmreich
Date: 04/28/21
Starbuck’s Communication Plan
Starbucks Coffee Company was launched in Seattle in 1971 when the consumption of coffee had declined in the United States of America. Starbucks, which is now, number three among the most prominent companies opened and USA's coffee giant, was launched by its founding leaders to sell only coffee beans. In 1984, Starbucks established its first coffee bar store. The organization has expanded as years have gone by to become among the most creative and innovative organizations in their communication plan. The company has approximately 21,000 stores in more than sixty-five countries.
The chain market of this branded coffee has portrayed excellent buoyancy in the current economic downturns, thus outplaying the more major retail sector comfortably. In the United Kingdom, there are approximately 4,600 outlets and more with an approximated turnover of £ 1.9 billion (Ferguson, 2019). Starbucks Coffee Company continues to be the most famous coffee brand with significant growth in sales since 2011. The organization’s coffee houses provide a high-end whole bean coffee, which includes rich-brewed, fresh, Italian-style expresso, several confections and pastries, and other coffee accessories. Besides, Starbucks Coffee Company retails chilled coffee, whole bean, bottled Frappuccino, and ground coffee in selected supermarkets in the United Kingdom. It has also established food retails in the UK. Lastly, the company also makes sales on its branded coffee known as Starbucks VIATM Ready Brew in several airlines, trains, and supermarkets.
Starbucks has laid down management philosophies on employee communication. First, the management philosophy advocates for upholding secrecy on the company’s importation information. Crucial information about the activities of Starbucks should be maintained within the company. Only with the company’s permission is one allowed to share the information with outside sources. Secondly, the management philosophy of Starbucks advocates for employee collaboration through effective communication. The baristas at Starbucks cafés communicate clearly to ensure that orders are made on time (Tikson, 2018). In addition, they work with each other to ensure that the process of communication is efficient. Therefore, the management philosophy of Starbucks on employee communication helps ensure a smooth operation in the business, thus contributing to positive customer experiences, quality services, and the company's cost-effectiveness.
The goals of the communication plan of Starbucks are creating awareness, enhancing the views, constructing its brand image, and replacing the company's brand in the perspectives of an employee. The first goal of communication is to offer both external and internal stakeholders a transparent understanding of the decisions that have been made. The second goal is to highlight how decisions made by stakeholders will affect the employees at Starbucks. The third goal is ensuring the employees have a complete comprehension of the procedure of implementing changes that the board of directors has decided.
This communication plan targets all the external and internal stakeholders affected by these changes, either indirectly or directly. The staff at Starbucks is multilingual, with employees comprising of both black and whites. Besides, they uphold different values as stipulated by their cultures. Because the employees have linguistic differences, the communication plan should be printed in all these languages.
Communication tools and channels are vital in establishing effective communication with employees in an organization. These communication tools and channels include face-to-face communication. Starbucks uses this type of communication tool because it effectively creates a personal connection with the employees and obtains real-time feedback. The second communication tool embraced by Starbucks in employee meetings. This form of communication is effective while communicating complex ideas. It is also used when the management wants input from its employees. The third communication tool is papers. These include the use of fliers on bulletin boards or handouts during meetings. The fourth communication tool is an internal social media at Starbucks is effective in building a collaborative culture and rapport among employees (Holland, Barnes & Balnave, 2017). Lastly, the fifth communication tool used at Starbucks is electronic, for example, intranet page and emails. These have been proven to work well with employees who frequently access computers.
Besides, a crisis communication policy is essential in helping both internal and external stakeholders react to crisis or organizational concerns such as a piece of negative information about an employee. The following steps describe the company’s policy on crisis communication. The first step in crisis communication is a spokesperson response. When the company is involved in a scandalous situation, the best thing it could do is apologize, making them look humane. It would be effective for the company to assign a spokesperson to represent the brand in creating the apology (Amaresan, 2021). They could be either the CEO, the organization's executive, or an individual that could represent the company very well.
The second step in responding to a crisis is proactive damage control. This is done to prevent or minimize the effects of a crisis before it happens. For instance, the company can add security software, which backs up and records the organization's data, thus helping in avoiding a malware crisis. In addition, employees should be trained on how to look out for harmful or suspicious emails. The third step the company should take in responding to a crisis is through a social media response. The media is powerful because it allows companies to reach audiences around the world. The company needs to develop a social media strategy, which manages the digital buzz around the company. This can be done by assigning representatives to supervise the company's social media or updating the company's customers with current information. This method is effective in responding to a crisis.
References
Amaresan, S. (2021). 6 Crisis Communication Plan Examples & How to Write Your Own. Retrieved 28th April 2021 from https://blog.hubspot.com/service/crisis-communication-plan.
Ferguson, E. (2019). Starbucks Corporation’s Organizational Culture & Its Characteristics. Retrieved 28th April 2021 from http://panmore.com/starbucks-coffee-company-organizational-culture.
Holland, P., Barnes, A., & Balnave, N. (2017). 'Utterly disgraceful': Social media and the workplace. In 31st Annual AIRAANZ Conference (AIRAANZ 2017),' Reconsidering Gender and Industrial Relations', Canberra, ACT, Australia, 7-9 February 2017.
Tikson, S. D. S. (2018). Human Resource Policies and Work Culture: A Case of Starbucks. JBMI (Jurnal Bisnis, Manajemen, dan Informatika), 15(1), 1-12.
